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There’s a beautiful scene in the first film where Lee and Evelyn<br />
slow dance to the song Harvest Moon by Neil Young, listening<br />
through earbuds so they won’t attract the creatures. Whose<br />
decision was that—yours, the music supervisor’s, Krasinski’s?<br />
Van der Ryn: That’s John Krasinski, all the way. He wrote that<br />
into the script, specifically to be that song. He talked about it a little<br />
bit with us. The song was expensive, but it was important to him<br />
that it be that song specifically. It was worth securing the rights to<br />
use it and paying the money. For a lower-budget film to spend that<br />
kind of money on one song was obviously a pretty big deal.<br />
Aadahl: That song has special significance for him and his wife,<br />
Emily. That’s a scene that’s based on their real-life relationship.<br />
Between the two of you, you’ve won or been nominated<br />
for multiple awards, including the Oscars. [The pair has been<br />
nominated jointly for Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Argo,<br />
and the first A Quiet Place]. What’s your best awards show<br />
story?<br />
Van der Ryn: My favorite awards experience was at the<br />
BAFTA Awards [in Britain]. I took my mom. As we were walking<br />
to the ball afterwards, all the photographers there started<br />
calling out, “Dame Judi! Dame Judi!” They thought my mom<br />
was Dame Judi Dench. So she started posing!<br />
Aadahl: Before the Oscars, there’s the nominees’ luncheon.<br />
As my date, I brought my godmother. She lives in Washington<br />
state; she has nothing to do with Hollywood. We were standing<br />
next to Glenn Close, who’s her favorite actress of all time. She<br />
was just freaking out on me. “Can I take a picture?” It was fun<br />
to experience it through her eyes.<br />
Why is it important to see A Quiet Place Part II<br />
in a cinema?<br />
Van der Ryn: One of the unique things we experienced<br />
with the first A Quiet Place was that it really brought back the<br />
idea of cinemagoing as a communal experience. It became such<br />
an interactive experience, where audiences were required to be<br />
completely silent in order for the movie to work. Hundreds of<br />
people were gathered together in this temple of cinema, being<br />
hushed, not talking. That’s such a special experience to have in<br />
this age of streaming.<br />
Aadahl: We got a lot of feedback after the first film, people<br />
mentioning that after they saw it in a theater, after the end credits<br />
they heard the world in a completely new way. The sounds<br />
of traffic, the city. They were almost overwhelmed with the<br />
reality of sound in the world after having gone through this<br />
experience of A Quiet Place. I think it would be a very different<br />
experience to watch it on Blu-ray in your home, when<br />
there might be a washing machine going.<br />
AT THE MOVIES<br />
What is your all-time favorite moviegoing memory or experience?<br />
Aadahl: I grew up in the Bay Area. My parents took me to my very first movie when I was about<br />
5 or 6 years old. It was E.T. on a big, beautiful 70-millimeter screen. That was the first movie I ever<br />
saw in a theater. I still remember that feeling of “Whoa!” This big theater, that giant screen. The<br />
movie moved me so much. I was crying when E.T. was dying. My parents were concerned that maybe<br />
they should take me out of there, but I refused. “No, I have to stay and see this film!” It really<br />
had a profound and powerful effect on me. It’s probably one of the reasons I fell in love with cinema<br />
and went into it.<br />
Van der Ryn: It was the [1971] Nicolas Roeg movie Walkabout, which I saw when I was probably<br />
about 7 years old. It just really engaged me in a way that I had never experienced before, in any<br />
other form. It took me on this incredible journey that involved these two kids, an older sister and<br />
her younger brother, who was probably about 7, so I could relate completely to him. They’re on this<br />
journey across the Australian outback. For most of the movie, there’s no talking. It’s a completely<br />
cinematic experience that you can’t have in any other way, where you’re taken on this journey of<br />
sight and sound.<br />
What’s your favorite snack at the movie theater concession stand?<br />
Aadahl: I’m a popcorn guy. Lightly buttered and lightly salted.<br />
Van der Ryn: Of course, in a movie like A Quiet Place Part II, you have to be careful with the crunching,<br />
or the audience might turn on you.<br />
Aadahl: Junior Mints might work better.<br />
Van der Ryn: Or gummy bears. Something soft.<br />
MARCH <strong>2020</strong> / 33
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